Prominent Kashmiri leader passes away

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) – Moulana Muhammad Abbas Ansari, a religious leader and former chairman of Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of Kashmiri parties, passed away on Tuesday.

The 86-year-old leader passed away at his residence in Srinagar. He had been ill for several years and was hospitalized for a few days recently.

Hurriyat Conference tweeted: “Today, the people of Jammu and Kashmir and especially the Hurriyat Conference, lost a great man who dedicated his entire life to the cause of his people. We will dearly miss him and his able guidance. Until we meet again, inshallah.

“Maulana Abbas Ansari spent his entire life advocating Shia-Sunni unity and the cause of self-determination of the people of Kashmir,” the Hurriyat said.

An alumnus of the famous Shia seminary in Najaf, Iraq, Ansari founded Jammu and Kashmir Ittehadul Muslimeen after finishing his studies in early 1962. During that period, he was also active in a movement that called for the resolution of Kashmir by holding a referendum enshrined in the UN resolutions and as promised by India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Ansari was one of the founders of the Muslim United Front in 1987, a conglomerate that became a precursor for the Hurriyat Conference. He was the first Shia to head the Hurriyat Conference in 2003.

It is widely believed that the Muslim United Front was winning the 1987 election for the local assembly but was prevented from coming to power by the then ruling party in Kashmir, National Conference, in collusion with the Congress-ruled Indian government in New Delhi.

As one of the leaders, who were seen as moderates and who held several rounds of talks with New Delhi, Ansari strove for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict throughout his political career.

On assuming the chair of the Hurriyat Conference, he had called for a cease-fire between the Indian forces and freedom fighters.